Would swimming tone my tummy?

[RainbowBriteRules]

I am debating starting to go swimming a couple of times a week. I don’t want to lose weight but do want to do something about my tummy. Would swimming help?

I don’t know the answer but I don’t think you can lose fat from a specific area. It would likely tone your entire body up therefore stomach as well eventually. Any exercise would be better than none and swimming is kind on the joints.

I suppose toning all over wouldn’t hurt either!

twice a week? probably not.
more often than that and strenuous (i.e. out of breath & aching muscles) and adjusting diet. yes probably.

That is the answer I feared red! I’m not sure how to adjust my diet without losing weight everywhere though.

Try doing sit ups?

I don't mean this to discourage you :)
swimming is good. but maybe swimming alternating with weight training would be better for your purpose.

Hi op, I went for my first proper swim in years this week. Managed 500m. My stomach muscles were aching for a good couple of days, so hopefully that's a good sign and I will be keeping it up!

I could start doing sit ups actually, at least they are quick. Is there any weight training I could do at home? Can’t afford to join a gym or get a PT at the moment.

Oh that does seem like a good sign diva! My stomach muscles haven’t ached for months which is the problem I think!

Yoga would be good for your core OP, I notice a real difference when I do it, and especially if I include the pumping breath (also called skull shining breath!) in there.

‘Yoga with Adrienne - yoga for your core’ is a good practise you can find on YouTube (makes me sore though!) and there’s another one for your pelvic floor which includes the breathing excercise at the end.

Great, I will check that out thanks!

Planks are way better for toning your stomach than sit ups because they engage all of your abdominal muscles, sit-ups only engage the upper ones.

Check these out.....
www.coachmag.co.uk/core-exercises/6334/how-to-do-a-plank-and-build-a-core-of-steel

Swimming will tone everywhere not just your stomach, if anything you use your back muscles in swimming more than your stomach.

I did the thirty day plank challenge a year or so ago and saw no difference in my tummy but maybe it is worth another go. A core of steel sounds good!

You've got to do variations, I think the 30day one is a bit shit and doesn't work too

The other thing to remember is that to be able to see your abs you have to have around 15% body fat or less, which is low!

My stomach is hard to the touch but you can't see my abs because I'm sitting at 25% body fat, which is classed as healthy/average.

I'm trying to get down to less than 20% by Christmas but I'm not holding my breath about whether I'll ever be able to see my abs 😬

Ah ok I will look into variations. I don’t want to drop much body weight as don’t want to lose other curves so I know seeing abs is unrealistic. What I do need to do is lose the belly.

That's where I am, I'm a size 12 and quite happy this size i'd just like to drop some body fat so that my "wobbly bits" are "less wobbly"

That sounds like a plan!

It’s the wobbly bit at the front of my tummy that needs to go first but it never seems too!

Has anyone done one of those muffin top challenge things?